diff --git a/src/lib_shell/node.ml b/src/lib_shell/node.ml
index 34c0328e5..8379ffeae 100644
--- a/src/lib_shell/node.ml
+++ b/src/lib_shell/node.ml
@@ -72,8 +72,8 @@ let peer_metadata_cfg : _ P2p.peer_meta_config = {
 }
 
 let connection_metadata_cfg : _ P2p.conn_meta_config = {
-  conn_meta_encoding = Peer_metadata.encoding ;
-  conn_meta_value = fun _ -> () ;
+  conn_meta_encoding = Connection_metadata.encoding ;
+  conn_meta_value = fun _ -> { disable_mempool = false ; private_node = false} ;
 }
 
 let init_p2p p2p_params =
diff --git a/src/lib_shell_services/connection_metadata.ml b/src/lib_shell_services/connection_metadata.ml
index 1bd9c324d..20aa0dc01 100644
--- a/src/lib_shell_services/connection_metadata.ml
+++ b/src/lib_shell_services/connection_metadata.ml
@@ -7,5 +7,20 @@
 (*                                                                        *)
 (**************************************************************************)
 
-type t = unit
-let encoding = Data_encoding.empty
+type t = {
+  disable_mempool : bool ;
+  private_node : bool ;
+}
+
+let encoding =
+  let open Data_encoding in
+  (conv
+     (fun { disable_mempool ; private_node } ->
+        disable_mempool , private_node)
+     (fun (disable_mempool , private_node) ->
+        { disable_mempool ; private_node }))
+    (obj2
+       (req "disable_mempool" bool)
+       (req "private_node" bool))
+
+let pp _ppf _ = ()
diff --git a/src/lib_shell_services/connection_metadata.mli b/src/lib_shell_services/connection_metadata.mli
index 4a1dd6f08..30f4e40cc 100644
--- a/src/lib_shell_services/connection_metadata.mli
+++ b/src/lib_shell_services/connection_metadata.mli
@@ -9,5 +9,10 @@
 
 (** All the metadata associated to a running connection. *)
 
-type t = unit (* TODO *)
+type t = {
+  disable_mempool : bool ;
+  private_node : bool ;
+}
+
 val encoding: t Data_encoding.t
+val pp: Format.formatter -> t -> unit